Temporary covering for bung-holes



UNITED STATES PATENT EErcE.

GUSTAVUS A. WILL, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI.

TEMPORARY COVERING FOR BUNC-HOLLES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 470,415, dated March 8, 1892.

Application filed September 28, 18.91. Serial No. 407,031. (No model.)

To all whom, t may concern.'

Be it known that I, GUsTAvUs A. WILL, a citizen of the United States, residing in the city of St. Louis and State of Missouri, have invented a certain new and useful Temporary Covering for Bung-Holes, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

In practice kegs and casks are shipped from the factory or cooperage with the bunghole cut in the same. This leaves an opening to the interior of the cask,whereby dirt and other objectionable foreign material may enter the same, which necessitates the washing or rinsing out of the same before it can be used, and, further, it exposes the interior of the cask to the drying effect of the outside air, which tends to shrink the staves to such a degree, in some instances, as to cause' the cask to fall to pieces in shipment. There have been various means tried tov overcome these difficulties-as, for instance, driving a bung in the bung-hole. In this case the bung has to be removed before the cask can be made use of to introduce the material the cask is to contain. In doing so the cask is more or less disigured and injured.

My invention relates to means for conveniently closing the bung hole openings in kegs and casks, and has for its object the provision of a simple and efficient device foi` so doing that shall be capable of being conveniently applied and removed and inexpensive,

adapted to fulfill the following requirements:

to close the opening against the entrance of foreign matter and impervious to air.

It consists in a covering-piece of some flexi- `ble material of a size somewhat larger than the bung-hole, adapted to be secured to the outside of the cask over the bung-hole by some adhesive material and coated or other- Wise prepared, so as to be impervious to air.

In the accompanying drawings, in which like letters of reference denote like parts in the several figures, Figure l is a perspective View of a cask with my invention applied thereto covering the bung-hole formed in the side thereof. Fig. 2 is a cross-section of a portion of the cask, taken diametrically across the bung-hole. Figs. 3 and 4 are'views, as in Fig. 2, showing in Fig. 3 the covering as being A broken by the introduction of a plug or bung, and in Fig. 4 the bung4 driven home, as in closing the cask when it has been filled.

The covering-piece B is made of any flexible material, so that it is readily conformable to the uneven surface of the side of the cask A, and secured over the bung-hole O by some adhesive material, such as a coating of glue or paste on the under side of the covering B or the outside of the cask A under the covering-piece. The covering-piece B is made of some iiexible material-such as cloth-and the same coated over with varnish or other material, making the covering impervious to air after it has been applied to the cask; or it may bemade of a material that is in itself impervious to air, or prepared by dipping it, dac., so that it is made so before application.

In practice the covering will be applied at the cooperage where the casks are made. When the cask is used, the covering can simply be removedor the part thereof immediately over the opening cut away, or, preferably, as illustrated in Fig. 3, the covering B is simply broken by the forcedl introduction of a plug or bung D or by the end of a funnel used to fill the cask, which will only break or tear the covering B over the hole C, leaving a fragmentary central portion, which when the bung D is finally driven home, as shown in Fig. 4, so as to close the cask when it has been filled, will act as a bung-stay surrounding the bung D, helping to fill out the bung-hole O and make the same air and liquid tight, vand also assisting to retain the bung D in the hole C.

I claim- The herein-described temporary covering for the bung-holes in casks, consisting in a piece of flexible material impervious to air and adhesively secured .over the bung-hole and so arranged and placed with relation to the bung-hole that the bung may be driven home Without first removing the said temporary covering and be retained so as to form a more impervious plug, in combination with a cask, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have affixed my signature, in presence of two witnesses, this 12th day of September, 1891.

GU STAVUS A., WILL.

Witnesses:

J. N. CRooKEs, A. RAMEL. 

